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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25582228">Life Finds A Way</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWingsAthena/pseuds/CatWingsAthena'>CatWingsAthena</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>MacGyver (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Jurassic Park Fusion, Autistic Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), But it definitely is implied, Elements borrowed from Jurassic World, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Kid Bozer, Kid Riley, Neurodivergent Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Original Character Death(s), The autistic/neurodivergent Mac is only implied, everyone else is an adult, kid mac</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:56:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,532</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25582228</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWingsAthena/pseuds/CatWingsAthena</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone here is running from something.</p>
<p>Jack Dalton and Samantha Cage took jobs at the newly created Jurassic Park for the same reason--an attempt to leave one past behind in another. Only now, they're on babysitter duty to three kids who won a contest to see the park before it opens.</p>
<p>Soon, it turns out the kids have things they're running from, too. And when everything goes wrong, they all find themselves running for their lives.</p>
<p>They'll have to depend on each other if they want to survive.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Dalton &amp; Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) &amp; Riley Davis, Riley Davis &amp; Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Samantha Cage &amp; Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016), Wilt Bozer &amp; Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey everybody! Welcome to the Jurassic Park AU that absolutely no one asked for. This chapter contains vague implications of domestic and child abuse. Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Liberia, Costa Rica</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley stood next to her mother just outside the airport, waiting for the shuttle to take her to... well, she didn’t know exactly what, but it had to be better than what she was leaving behind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Five days. It was only for five days. But five days of escape was definitely better than nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she’d read about the opening of Jurassic Park, Riley had been... dubious at best. She knew about chaos theory, thank you. She knew about all the tiny little factors playing into a system as complicated as a giant theme park. Add something as dangerous as T-rex and raptors into the mix? You’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least it was on a small island. Whatever happened would, at the bare minimum, be contained. But Riley suspected a lot of people were going to die because some rich old white guy with a God complex wanted to prove he could one-up nature.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Okay... she didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>technically</span>
  </em>
  <span> know the park’s founder was an old white guy. No one knew who they were. But she’d put good money on it.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then, she’d read about the essay contest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was for middle school students, sixth through eighth grade. The instructions were to, in five hundred words or less, describe how you saw yourself fitting into the future of the park. Of the applicants, three winners would be selected to spend five days touring the park before its official opening to the public.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Riley had written in. She’d taken a risk—explaining her concern, and saying, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I can help.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>There’s no way to completely avoid the risks of a system like this,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she’d said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>But many of your problems are going to be computer-based. To minimize that risk, you need the best in the world working with your computer systems. That’s what I am.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d spent what little space there was left discussing the... marginally less illegal of her accomplishments. And, apparently, her gamble had paid off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Out of the no doubt hundreds, maybe thousands, of applicants, Riley Davis had been selected to see the park.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wasn’t gonna lie—the chance to see some dinosaurs sounded pretty cool. But mostly, she was hoping for a chance to get herself and Mom away from her dad for a little while.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe, if Mom could remember who she was without Elwood around...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Five days wouldn’t be enough for that, Riley knew. But she could hope.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was the good stuff. On the other side, she was worried about the other kids.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d been given their names and contact information three months ago, when they’d won the contest. Angus MacGyver and Wilt Bozer (weird names both, in her opinion). They’d both emailed her within a day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d ignored them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wasn’t here to make friends. Especially not with nerds who’d know she wasn’t here for the right reasons if she talked to them too long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d read enough about dinosaurs that she thought she could carry on a somewhat passable conversation, but mostly, she planned to come off as the aloof, silent type.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then they’d never know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley was jolted out of her thoughts by two people moving toward her. One was a boy about her age, although he clearly hadn’t hit puberty yet. He was skinny, with pale skin and floppy blond hair, and was carrying a small tan messenger bag over his shoulder. The other person was a man with graying hair, who Riley guessed to be the boy’s grandfather. He was likewise carrying a messenger bag, and they had one suitcase between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the boy saw Riley, he smiled. “Hey!” he called, waving. “Are you Riley?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Riley said. “Who are you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boy, who had arrived at Riley’s side by this time, extended his hand for Riley to shake. “Angus MacGyver, but I go by Mac.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a moment’s consideration, Riley shook Mac’s hand. She needed to be somewhat distant, but this trip would only become unpleasant if she was downright rude. “Like you said, I’m Riley.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mac,” said Mac. Then, he immediately looked down. “Sorry. I already said that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” said Riley.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac took a breath and looked up. “So what did you write about for your essay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley mentally groaned. Apparently this Mac kid was a talker. That would make things more difficult. “Computers,” she said, hoping a one-word answer would tip him off that she didn’t want to talk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What sort of computer stuff?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He paused, and Riley didn’t reply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac kept talking. “I’m not very good with computers, but I’m good at engineering and things. That’s what I wrote about. The fences, the rides—there’s a lot of moving parts that go into a park like this, and it’s super important that they get it right. So I told them I could help them with that, because I like building stuff, and I’m good at figuring out how things work and making them work better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Angus,” said Mac’s grandfather.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, right. Sorry. I’m talking too much. Um... what’s your favorite subject in school?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley reached up and fiddled with her necklace. “Um... I’m pretty good at math, I guess.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh hey!” said Mac. “I like math too! Do you like fractals?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley did, in fact, kind of like fractals, but not enough to want to carry on a conversation about them. Fortunately, she was spared having to answer by a shout of “Mac!” through the crowd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac spun around, then seemingly caught sight of someone. His eyes lit up, and he grinned. “Boze!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley looked where Mac was looking and saw a boy about her and Mac’s age, taller and sturdier in build than Mac, with dark brown skin, a round face, and a wide smile. He was standing next to a woman with shoulder-length, relaxed hair who looked to be his mother. She was smiling, too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No sooner had Riley processed all this than Mac was no longer at her side, running to get to the other boy—Wilt Bozer, must have been. They collided in a hug that nearly knocked them both off their feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley was too far away to hear what they were saying, but they were clearly babbling a mile a minute. At one point, they huddled close while Wilt... Boze?... took a selfie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley wasn’t jealous. She wasn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wasn’t here to make friends.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was just here to get herself and Mom away for a little while—and, if all went astoundingly well, forever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yeah. That wasn’t gonna happen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But she could hope.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She could try.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boys were making their way back toward her. “Boze, this is Riley,” said Mac. “Riley, this is Bozer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I get that you two have weird first names,” said Riley, “but if either of you try to call me Davis, you will regret it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bozer raised his eyebrows, then smiled. “Good to meet you, Riley.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Same to you, Bozer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just then, the shuttle pulled up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Here to take you to the ferry?” said the driver.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac and Bozer were practically vibrating with excitement as they got in. Riley had to admit, she was starting to get kind of excited too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was going to get to see actual </span>
  <em>
    <span>dinosaurs.</span>
  </em>
  <span> No matter how much she usually preferred to stay in her room and code, that was kind of awesome.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Mac and Bozer seemed alright. A little annoying, but alright.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yeah. This was actually going to be fun.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>San José, Costa Rica</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>This Café Is Not The Most Clandestine Meeting Spot</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonah Walsh looked over his shoulder as he made his way over to the table where Jason Tennant was sitting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello, Walsh,” oozed Tennant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You shouldn’t use my name,” Walsh whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nobody cares,” said Tennant casually.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Walsh sighed and slid his briefcase over the table to where Tennant sat. “Seven fifty thousand,” he said. “Seven fifty more if you pull this off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I’ll pull it off,” said Tennant with a faint smile. “How am I supposed to transport the embryos?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Walsh smiled. “I don’t want the embryos,” he said. “When I’m through, no one is going to want to so much as look at a dinosaur.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tennant nodded. “So what do you want me to do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Walsh handed Tennant a flashdrive. “They just hired a tech expert. Milton Zito. Replace him before he shows up to work. When you’re on the job, plug this into a computer connected to the main system and start the program. It’ll bring all the park’s systems to a screeching halt. Including the electric fences.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hang on,” said Tennant. “You want me to crash the fences while I’m still in the park?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s a time delay of fifteen minutes. If you time it right, that should be enough time for you to get yourself off the island before all hell breaks loose. And break loose it will.” Walsh leaned forward. “There is, of course, some risk involved. That’s why I’m paying you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hang on,” said Tennant. “I heard there are gonna be kids in the park. That true?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That a problem?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. Just wanted to know how many complications I’ll have to account for.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Last guy I hired got cold feet.” Walsh looked at Tennant and smiled, showing his teeth. “It didn’t go well for him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Understood,” Tennant said. “Count me in.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everybody! This chapter contains mentions of bullying. Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Ferry</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>North Pacific Ocean</b>
</p>
<p>Standing on the deck of the ferry, wind whipping his hair back, waves tossing the boat under his feet, Mac smiled and turned his Swiss Army knife over in his pocket.</p>
<p>(He’d retrieved it from the outer pocket of his suitcase as soon as they’d landed. He and his grandpa wouldn’t have checked anything—it was only a five-day trip, and they were light packers—but they’d agreed to do it so they could bring their pocketknives. Mac especially didn’t feel right without his, and Grandpa knew that.)</p>
<p>(Dad wouldn’t have liked that he depended so much on an object now. But Dad... Dad wasn’t here.)</p>
<p>He couldn’t believe he was really here. Five days, no bullies, just him and Bozer (and this Riley girl, who seemed all right if a little shy) and the park.</p>
<p><em> Bozer </em> was here.</p>
<p>Mac turned to Bozer, who was standing next to him, and grinned. “We’re finally here.”</p>
<p>“I know! This is gonna be <em> so cool! </em> Do you know what species you most wanna see?”</p>
<p>Mac thought for a second. “I think I want to see the parasaurolophus,” he said. “Or... I want to <em> hear </em> them, anyway. I want to know if they really sound like the reconstructions of their calls.”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah!” said Bozer. “I bet they do. They recreated the inside of the crests, I mean... but they might not have used the right material...”</p>
<p>“What would you use?” asked Mac.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” said Bozer. “I don’t know if the inside was bony or fleshy. But <em> now </em> I bet we do...”</p>
<p>Behind them, Bozer’s mom Tanya was smiling. “I’m glad you’re having fun,” she said to Bozer.</p>
<p>“Of course I am,” said Bozer, throwing an arm around Mac, “Mac’s here!”</p>
<p>Mac smiled.</p>
<p>Over the past three months, he and Bozer had become best friends via emails, text messages, and phone calls. When Mac told Bozer about being bullied at school, Bozer said he wished he was there to punch them out. When Bozer was having trouble in math class because the kids at his table were jerks and constantly goofing off, Mac virtually helped him keep up. They’d talked about their respective plans for when they grew up, and eventually, Mac had told Bozer that he’d really only participated in the essay contest at the encouragement of his science teacher, Mr. Ericson, and that he’d never been that interested in dinosaurs—he just wanted to get away from the bullies for a little while. Bozer had taken that as license to tell Mac everything he knew about dinosaurs, and Mac had studied up on his own, too.</p>
<p>By this point, he might not have been an expert, but he knew quite a bit.</p>
<p>It was actually really interesting, and honestly, maybe he <em> would </em> end up working here. Bozer had said he might want to, and Mac couldn’t imagine anything better than working where Bozer did. They had a joke between them about running away to a forest, building a treehouse, and living off the land, like Sam Gribley in <em> My Side of the Mountain. </em> Bozer would tell Mac stories about it whenever the bullying at school got too bad.</p>
<p>Both of them working here would be the closest they could get to that dream in real life.</p>
<p>This was just for five days. But it might be the gateway to a future that could last a lot longer than that.</p>
<p>And even if it wasn’t? Five days with his best friend in this amazing place? Getting to see <em> dinosaurs? </em></p>
<p>This was gonna be <em> good.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>...</em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Isla Nublar</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>120 Miles West of Costa Rica</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>AKA Jurassic Park</b>
</p>
<p>Jack wasn’t sure he liked where this day was going.</p>
<p>He didn’t know how he and Sam, of all the rangers in this goddamn park, got picked to be first up for babysitter duty. They were probably the two <em> least </em>suited to dealing with kids.</p>
<p>(Jack wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling Sam was here for the same reason he was—this little island in the middle of nowhere, this place belonging to another time, was as far as she could get from whatever it was in her past she was running away from.)</p>
<p>(They had an understanding, him and Sam.)</p>
<p>Maybe it was just because they were the lead rangers responsible for the big carnivores, and Patty, who’d probably arranged this whole thing, thought that that would appeal to the kids. (Kids were weird.)</p>
<p>Jack was ranger in charge of the tyrannosaur paddock. Sam trained the raptors.</p>
<p>Honestly, Jack respected the hell out of Sam and her raptor-training. T-rex was one thing, but raptors gave him the creeps. With a tyrannosaur, if you knew where it was, you knew where it was. Its vision was movement-based, so you could hide from it. And maybe you couldn’t outrun it, but if you had a reasonably quick vehicle, you could out-drive it, easy.</p>
<p>With raptors, none of that was true.</p>
<p>(Okay, they were in paddocks surrounded by electric fencing. None of this was actually ever going to be relevant. But Jack’s mind couldn’t help jumping to the worst-case scenario, and in such a scenario, he’d <em> much </em> rather be hunted by his T-rex than by Sam’s raptors.)</p>
<p>“Jack?” called Sam, snapping Jack out of his thoughts. “It’s time to go.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know,” mumbled Jack.</p>
<p>“Hey,” said Sam, moving around to the driver’s side of her Jeep and leaning over to keep talking to Jack, who was starting towards his own. “It’s just for five days. And I think you’ll be fine.”</p>
<p>“How do you know?”</p>
<p>“I’m an expert in animal behavior,” said Sam. “That includes humans.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, so I’ve heard,” Jack muttered as he hopped into his own Jeep and started the engine.</p>
<p>As they drove, Jack had to admit he was looking forward to the looks on the kids’ faces when they saw the brachiosaur and parasaurolophus herds. Just a little.</p>
<p>When they arrived at the ferry dock, Jack stepped out of his Jeep and plastered on his best fake smile.</p>
<p>“Hello,” said Sam. “I’m Sam, and this is Jack. We’re rangers here at Jurassic Park. Congratulations on winning the contest. While you’re here, we’ll show you around, let you see the inner workings of the park—and the dinosaurs, of course.”</p>
<p>All the kids smiled, but the girl’s smile looked as fake as Jack’s. That was odd.</p>
<p>“You’ll meet many of the park staff, get to see the different career options we have available, and by the end, you should have a better idea of whether you might want to work here when you’re older. And, of course, the goal is for you to have fun while you’re at it.”</p>
<p>“Any questions?” asked Jack, feeling like he should say something.</p>
<p>The blond boy raised his hand. “How do you do maintenance on the fences, if the current has to be on all the time to stop the dinosaurs from getting out?”</p>
<p>“That’s a good question,” said Jack. “It depends on the dinosaur. For carnivores, what we generally do is sedate the dinosaurs while we work on their enclosures. Lure them close to the fence with food, then use a dart. For something like a T-rex, it’s a pretty big dart.”</p>
<p>The boy nodded.</p>
<p>“For the herbivores, it’s too dangerous to sedate them—they sleep standing up, like horses. And they’re too big. If we sedated them, they’d fall and hurt themselves. So we lure them away from where the work is being done with food, then, uh, work fast.”</p>
<p>The boy frowned. “Do you have temporary fencing?”</p>
<p>“You know what, I’ll let you talk to the maintenance people about this.”</p>
<p>“Okay!” the boy chirped.</p>
<p>“And hey,” said Jack. “What are your names?”</p>
<p>“Mac,” said the blond boy.</p>
<p>“Bozer,” said the other boy. “Well, technically Wilt, but I go by my last name.” The woman who looked to be his mother gave him a look. “To people who aren’t my parents.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” said the blond boy—Mac. “I go by my last name too. Mac’s short for MacGyver.”</p>
<p>
  <em> What? </em>
</p>
<p>Jack barely heard the girl introduce herself as “Riley” and Mac’s grandfather, Bozer’s mom, and Riley’s mom introduce themselves as “Harry,” “Tanya,” and “Diane” respectively.</p>
<p>He was too busy thinking, <em> oh, shit. </em></p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Sam glanced at the kids in the rearview mirror of her Jeep and wondered how this was going to go.</p>
<p>She’d subtly shepherded the kids into her vehicle and the parents into Jack’s. She knew Jack wasn’t feeling confident in his skill at dealing with the children—and that couldn’t have gotten any better after what they’d just learned.</p>
<p>Sam wondered if this whole contest had just been a ploy on her boss’s part to see his... <em> must be his son, </em> she decided.</p>
<p>He’d never mentioned a son.</p>
<p>Then, he’d never mentioned anything remotely related to a personal life.</p>
<p>If it was, she’d keep quiet about it. Getting mad at James wouldn’t help his child.</p>
<p>They were almost there.</p>
<p>Sam looked up at the brachiosaurus herd on the horizon.</p>
<p>She knew the instant the kids spotted them, too.</p>
<p>An awed gasp.</p>
<p>“Mac! Mac, look!” Bozer’s voice.</p>
<p>“Riley!” That was Mac. “Look over there!”</p>
<p>Sam looked at the kids in the mirror. Bozer and Mac had matching rapturous smiles on their faces. Riley’s smile was less ecstatic, but nonetheless real.</p>
<p>As Sam watched, Mac’s hands came up towards the level of his face. Then, his smile faded a bit, and he quickly took them down and stuck them in his pockets.</p>
<p>Sam filed that particular bit of information away for later.</p>
<p>“Want to get closer?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah!” the kids chorused.</p>
<p>Sam drove until they were within a hundred feet of the brachiosaurs.</p>
<p>The ground shook underneath them.</p>
<p>(She couldn’t do anything about the shock this child was no doubt in for when he arrived at the visitor center. But the least she could do was see to it that he at least had a little fun before that.)</p>
<p>Mac was laughing, Bozer was staring around in amazement, and Riley was leaning over the edge of the Jeep to get closer.</p>
<p>Then, a parasaurolophus boomed.</p>
<p>Mac and Bozer looked at each other.</p>
<p>“They do sound like the reconstructions!” said Mac.</p>
<p>“Well, almost,” said Bozer. “It sounds like it’s a mucus membrane, like a human nose—I just—this is <em> so awesome!” </em></p>
<p>Sam smiled. “Welcome,” she said, “to Jurassic Park.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I finished Camp NaNoWriMo! I set my wordcount goal to 30,000 words, and I did it! I'm very proud :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everybody! I finally got a new chapter up, yay! Special thanks to TeddyTheCat for giving me my dinosaur mojo back. Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Visitor Center</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Still Jurassic Park</strong>
</p><p>Bozer whistled as he, Mac, and Riley walked through the entryway, Sam ahead of them, Jack and their parents just behind.</p><p>The place was... well, <em> awesome </em> was the word that came to mind. But in the old-fashioned sense. Like, <em> awe. </em></p><p>(Nowhere near what he’d felt on seeing the actual dinosaurs, of course. But some really nice architecture nonetheless.)</p><p>Reconstructions of dinosaur skeletons hung from the high ceiling. The walls were reinforced glass, giving the place an open, airy feel. A staircase curved up and around the room, hugging the edge.</p><p>Bozer was so busy admiring the design of the room that he didn’t see the beige-skinned woman in a dark blue dress making her way down the stairs until she’d almost met up with the group. “Welcome,” she said. “Congratulations to our contest winners. My name is Patricia Thornton, and I’m Director of Operations here at Jurassic Park. I’ll be showing you around our facility. If you have questions at any point, just ask, or put your hand up if I’m talking. Are you all ready?”</p><p>Nods all around.</p><p>Patricia nodded at someone behind Bozer. “Yes?”</p><p>“Are parents also going on this tour?” asked Diane.</p><p>“Yes,” said Patricia, “if you’d like. You can wait here if you’d prefer, but I’d highly recommend you come along.” She smiled.</p><p>Bozer looked around, and noticed that Jack and Sam had, at some point, quietly disappeared.</p><p>“All right then,” said Patricia. “Follow me.”</p><p>She led them through the visitor center lobby, down a set of stairs, and through a maze of corridors. “I won’t insult you by giving you the tour we’d give usual park visitors. You all know about how DNA synthesis works, I’m sure. What you may not know is where we got the raw materials. We were able to extract incomplete samples of dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes preserved in amber, and fill in the gaps in the sequences with information from living species.”</p><p>“Which species?” asked Mac.</p><p>They’d reached a door. Patricia swiped her badge and opened it, and gestured to a light-skinned, dark-haired woman in a lab coat, who was leaning over a table with a look of intense concentration on her face. “I’ll turn you over to our head geneticist. Dr. Mallory?”</p><p>The woman looked up and smiled. “Oh! Hey. I’m Frankie. I run the lab here. What would you like to know?”</p><p>“What species do you use to fill in the gaps in the DNA?”</p><p>“We’ve used multiple species, actually. Mostly it’s ordinary domestic chickens, believe it or not—they’re easy to come by, and birds are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs. But we also use some genetic material from the European common frog, <em> Rana temporaria. </em> Their reproductive structure works better for our purposes.”</p><p>“Why’s that?”</p><p>Frankie started on what Bozer suspected was probably going to be a long and technical explanation. Meanwhile, Bozer’s eye was drawn to a table near the middle of the room, where a robotic arm was turning... were those...</p><p>“Are those dinosaur eggs?” asked Bozer, pointing.</p><p>“Yes,” said Frankie. “Technically, they’re ostrich eggs with dinosaur embryos inside, but for all practical purposes, they’re dinosaur eggs. And that one’s about to hatch!” She indicated one that, sure enough, was shaking and rocking.</p><p>Everyone gathered around the table while Frankie stepped forward. “C’mon,” she said. “C’mon out. You got this.”</p><p>A crack appeared in the egg. Another.</p><p>Just then, Sam walked in the door. “It’s hatching?” she said. “Am I on time?”</p><p>“Just,” said Frankie. “C’mon over. Let her through, everybody.”</p><p>The cluster of kids and parents parted to let Sam up to the table. Bozer strained his neck to get a better look.</p><p>Part of the shell cracked off. Sam pulled on gloves Frankie wordlessly handed her and gently pulled the chip away.</p><p>“They imprint on the first living creature they see,” Sam explained. “So I’m always here when a raptor is born. Helps them to trust me. Which is important, since I train them.”</p><p>“You train raptors?” asked Riley in an incredulous tone.</p><p>Bozer was a little surprised Riley had spoken up. She’d been quiet so far.</p><p>“Yes,” said Sam. “I’ve got three right now. Blue, Charlie, and Delta. Eventually we hope to expand the program, but we’re starting off small.”</p><p>Riley shook her head and said nothing more.</p><p>The egg rocked. Tiny squeaking sounds emerged.</p><p>The room held its collective breath.</p><p>The process continued for a few minutes, Sam helping things along, until a tiny creature sat quivering in the artificial nest, damp and squawking, Sam murmuring softly to it.</p><p>“It’s all right,” she said. “Good job.”</p><p>Tentatively, Bozer raised his hand.</p><p>“Yes?” said Frankie.</p><p>“Why doesn’t it have feathers? I mean... didn’t raptors have feathers?”</p><p>Frankie smiled. “Yes, they did. But like I was saying, we didn’t have a full sequence to work with. Which means I had to make some judgement calls about what to create. These aren’t any specific species of raptor—the raptor DNA we got was some of the most degraded, so they’re cobbled together from multiple dromaeosaur species, plus some aesthetic choices on my part. Honestly, I based some of my decisions on what people expect to see. Which means no feathers.”</p><p>Bozer frowned. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t want to seem rude.</p><p>He was spared the decision by Patricia clearing her throat. “It’s time to move on,” she said. “Riley, I think you might like this next part.”</p><p>They left the lab and continued through the maze until they came to a room with a bank of computers. A blonde woman with glasses and a knee-length skirt looked up when they came in. “Hello,” she said. “How’s your day going so far?”</p><p>Various murmurs of “good” and the like rose up from the group.</p><p>“I’m Jill. I’m head of information technology for Jurassic Park. I hear one of you is particularly interested in computer science—Riley?”</p><p>Riley nodded.</p><p>“Well, I understand you have to keep moving, but you and I can definitely set up some time to talk later in your stay. For a general overview, this is the command center of the park. Everything is controlled from here. From the rides to the fences to the door locks.”</p><p>“Do you have physical backups in place?” asked Harry from behind Bozer.</p><p>“We did,” said Jill. “But they kept malfunctioning. So we got rid of them.”</p><p>Harry made a faint sound of disapproval.</p><p>“What about security?” asked Riley. </p><p>“Best in the world,” Jill replied. She looked at the parents. “I won’t bore you with the details of the encryption, but suffice it to say that if anyone tries to get through our security, we’ll know well before they’re in.”</p><p>“All right,” said Patricia. “That’s it for the basic tour. You’ll all be able to meet with park employees in your specific areas of interest later. For now, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”</p><p>Was Bozer imagining it, or did Patricia look at Mac weird when she said that? Almost... apologetic?</p><p>Patricia led them up some stairs, and soon they were back in the main visitor center.</p><p>Standing on the stairs was a light-skinned, blond man with a serious expression and khaki pants.</p><p>Bozer heard a choked noise from next to him.</p><p>He looked over at Mac, who was staring, shock and disbelief written all over his face.</p><p>As Bozer watched, Mac’s mouth opened and closed a few times. He swallowed, then finally got a word out.</p><p>“Dad?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I LIVE!!! Sorry it's been LITERALLY THREE MONTHS since I updated this... I've been sitting on this chapter the whole time, and I've been meaning to post it for a while but hadn't gotten around to it. Chapter 5 is not written, but consider this a commitment from me that I'll get back into writing this fic this November. I'm doing NaNoWriMo (no main project, just trying for 50,000 words) and hopefully this will help with that.</p>
<p>This chapter contains James being a manipulative and lousy parent. If you're still with me (and I mean that in more senses than one this time), happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Patricia watched the two MacGyvers stare at each other and silently prayed that this interaction would end with minimal casualties.</p>
<p>She’d known this was coming. James had set up this contest partially in the hopes that his son would apply. She’d tried to advise him against it—telling him that, as second-in-command, she could handle the park’s operations for a time while he visited his son, if he wanted to see him—but James wouldn’t be swayed.</p>
<p>Patricia suspected he had another reason.</p>
<p><em> This should go without saying, </em> James had said, <em> but if his essay isn’t up to the standards of the other winners, don’t accept him. </em></p>
<p>James wanted proof that his son was “worthy”. As if a <em> child </em> should have to <em> earn </em> his parent’s attention.</p>
<p>This contest was the first Patricia had heard of James even having a son.</p>
<p>“Dad?” Mac repeated in a small voice.</p>
<p>“Angus,” said James.</p>
<p>“Dad, what’s going on? Why are you here?” Mac’s tone was almost desperately confused. As though he wanted not to know.</p>
<p>“I made this park,” said James. “I brought dinosaurs back to this Earth. And now you’re here.”</p>
<p>“You mean...” Mac was blinking hard, shaking slightly. “You mean you left to... to build this park... and you didn’t take me with you?”</p>
<p>“We’ll talk about this later,” said James. “When the others aren’t here.”</p>
<p>“You’ll talk about it now.”</p>
<p>Patricia had almost forgotten Harry’s presence in the room. He stepped up to stand next to and slightly in front of Mac and stared James down. “Son, I think you better explain to <em> your </em> son—and to me—what was so important that you left him behind.”</p>
<p>James took a breath, opened his mouth, looked around at the assembled people, and closed it.</p>
<p>Then, he looked at Patricia.</p>
<p>“Come on, everyone,” she said. “Follow me.”</p>
<p>As everyone whose last name wasn’t MacGyver followed Patricia out of the room, she distinctly saw Bozer grab Mac’s hand and squeeze it before letting go and following his mother out the door.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Mac stood in the lobby of the visitor center, staring up at his dad, and tried fervently not to cry.</p>
<p>He wasn’t going to cry. He couldn’t.</p>
<p>He was seeing his dad for the first time in two years. He should be happy... right?</p>
<p>But now Grandpa was angry, and Dad... </p>
<p>Mac had always wondered why Dad had left. He’d hoped he’d had some reason—<em> something </em> that would explain why he’d left and then never come back, never so much as sent a letter or made a phone call.</p>
<p>Maybe he’d been wrongfully imprisoned somewhere. Maybe he’d been hit by a car and had amnesia, and didn’t remember who he was.</p>
<p>But this?</p>
<p>Sure, Jurassic Park was cool. But why hadn’t he taken Mac with him?</p>
<p>“Why?” Mac asked.</p>
<p>Dad sighed. “You want the truth? I wasn’t sure who I was anymore. After your mother died... I wasn’t doing well. I found myself becoming distant. I was so angry, all the time. And you... you’re such a brilliant kid. You reminded me so much of her, and I’d look at you, and... I’d get angry all over again.”</p>
<p>At that, Mac couldn’t help the tears that started to well up in his eyes.</p>
<p>Then, he heard Grandpa speak up. “Don’t you dare blame this on Angus.”</p>
<p>“No! No, no, no, that’s not what I’m doing, I’m just...” He turned back to Mac. “I’m trying to tell you why. And now... now that I’m in a better place... I wanted to see you.”</p>
<p>Mac tried to say something. Honestly, he didn’t know what. But he couldn’t.</p>
<p>It didn’t matter, though, because Dad was still talking.</p>
<p>“I knew a smart kid like you would apply for this chance. And now that you’re here... you can stay if you want. I remember what school’s like for you. You’d never have to deal with bullies again. You could learn as fast as you wanted to. You could—”</p>
<p>Dad abruptly stopped talking.</p>
<p>It took Mac a moment to figure out why. When he saw the look Grandpa was giving Dad, though, he stopped wondering.</p>
<p>“Angus,” said Grandpa, “go catch up to the others.”</p>
<p>Mac immediately scurried out of the room.</p>
<p>Once he was out of visual range, however, he stopped.</p>
<p>If Dad and Grandpa were talking about him, he wanted to hear it.</p>
<p>For a moment, there was silence.</p>
<p>Then, Grandpa’s voice. Sturdy, yet somehow <em> hurt. </em></p>
<p>“Son,” he said. “What the <em> fuck </em> have you done?”</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>
  <strong>Bozer's Room</strong>
</p>
<p>“He swore. Grandpa doesn’t <em> do </em> that! I mean... except when he hurts himself by accident. But... this was... very deliberate.”</p>
<p>Bozer listened as a distraught Mac explained what had happened after Bozer had left the visitor center lobby.</p>
<p>“Honestly?” he said. “I don’t think it was very good of your dad to just leave you for two years, with no explanation, and then expect you to forgive him just like that.”</p>
<p>“I mean... he’s my dad,” said Mac. “I should be happy to see him, right? I’ve wanted to, I’ve wished he would come home...”</p>
<p>“You wished he would come home,” said Bozer. “But he didn’t come home. He manipulated you into coming to him.”</p>
<p>Mac sighed. “I mean... he didn’t really <em> manipulate </em> me, I applied to that contest because Mr. Ericson told me I should...”</p>
<p>Bozer inwardly sighed. He wanted to say a variety of much nastier things than that about Mac’s dad, but knew it wouldn’t be helpful, so he kept his mouth shut.</p>
<p>“I just... I wish Grandpa wasn’t mad at him. I don’t like it when people are mad.”</p>
<p>Bozer nodded. “That’s hard.”</p>
<p>There was a knock at the door.</p>
<p>“Angus?” called Harry through the door. “Remember you’re getting up early tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“I should go to bed,” said Mac.</p>
<p>“Good night,” said Bozer.</p>
<p>“Good night,” said Mac, reaching over to give Bozer a hug before standing up and leaving the room.</p>
<p>Whatever was happening with Mac’s family, Bozer hoped it shook out quickly.</p>
<p>And without too much pain for Mac.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, everybody! I wrote this chapter literally entirely today, so, any mistakes are my fault. Also, this chapter is where the fic starts to earn its gore warning, so be aware. It also contains animal death, original character death, and a brief joke that might be read as blasphemy, if that bothers you. Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Outside The Tyrannosaur Paddock</b>
</p><p>
  <b>They’ve Been Here A While</b>
</p><p>It had been a long, obnoxious day, and now the cars wouldn’t run.</p><p>Jack was sitting in one of the tour vehicles with the kids’ parents, outside the tyrannosaur paddock. In the other vehicle were the kids and another park ranger, Mark Simmons.</p><p>Jack had never trusted Mark. He couldn’t put his finger on <em> why, </em> exactly, the man just kind of... set him on edge. Jack didn’t think he was actively dangerous—if he had, he’d’ve said something, he’d been in the Army too long to ignore a feeling like that—but he did think that this guy wouldn’t handle a crisis well, and his military training wouldn’t let him ignore that feeling, either.</p><p>In a park full of dinosaurs, not being able to handle a crisis was a problem.</p><p>But Mark was ranger in charge of the parasaurolophus herd, and with Mac’s interest in fence engineering and repair and Bozer’s interest in acoustics, it had been determined that he was the best suited to answer their questions.</p><p>Oh well. So far, everything had been running... well, <em> smoothly </em> wasn’t exactly the right word, they’d had technical difficulties aplenty in the beginning of the park’s operations (those had <em> mostly </em> been sorted out by now, but obviously not entirely, given the tour vehicles’ current refusal to go anywhere), but nothing had gone spectacularly wrong.</p><p>Jack was fervently hoping it stayed that way.</p><p>He was beginning to get a really bad feeling about this.</p><p>Jack had met up with the group late that morning outside the raptor paddock, where Sam had been giving a demonstration of her raptor-training methods. Everyone had seemed absorbed by that—naturally. Jack wasn’t sure why Sam hadn’t been chosen as the other ranger to accompany the group on their park tour—she definitely had the best people skills of any of them, and the raptors were, admittedly, way cool—but he suspected it was because of the tyrannosaur thing. T-rex had a certain cult of personality around it that inspired near obsession in the minds of children. Which meant the tyrannosaur ranger <em> would </em> get picked to lead the tour.</p><p>At least he was with the adults. He wasn’t sure he’d’ve been able to handle the kids all day, given that one of them had just received the shock of his life and the other two were, inevitably, caught up in it.</p><p>From what Jack had been able to gather from the body language and brief conversations he’d overheard, Bozer was doing his best to support Mac and keep him distracted, while Riley had shut down and grown more distant from the boys. Maybe she thought Mac had gotten in because of favoritism and blamed him for it, or maybe there was something else going on.</p><p>Regardless of what was up with the kids, it wasn’t Jack’s place to speculate. Even if it was annoyingly difficult not to.</p><p>They’d spent the day circling the park, riding the tour vehicles along the path marked out for them, with Mark and Jack explaining what the recorded audio didn’t. There was a radio in each car, so when one of them knew more about a certain area, they could share their knowledge with both groups.</p><p>But they’d gotten stuck in front of the tyrannosaur paddock—about as far from the visitor center as you could get.</p><p>And now, it was getting dark.</p><p>It had been getting dark for longer than it should have been—a storm was moving in. But now the sun was actually setting, and the light was dimming fast. Night really did <em> fall </em> here in the tropics—it went from day to night incredibly quickly.</p><p>Furthermore, the radios were out.</p><p>The goat that had been chained inside the tyrannosaur paddock in an attempt to lure the T-rex closer to the fence bleated.</p><p>The rain poured.</p><p>Jack was running low on tyrannosaur facts.</p><p>“Back in the Cretaceous, T-rex probably had feathers,” he was saying. “But that’s not what people expect to see, so our geneticists didn’t give them those.”</p><p>“Really?” said Harry. “T-rex with feathers.” He shook his head.</p><p>Tanya frowned. “Shouldn’t part of the point of a park like this be education? Why not surprise people, if that’s how it was?”</p><p>Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d have to talk to the genetics team.” <em> And James MacGyver, </em>Jack thought but decided it was unwise to say with Harry in the car.</p><p>Tanya looked like she was going to say something, but was interrupted by a quiet <em> boom. </em></p><p>The whole car went silent.</p><p>
  <em> Boom. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Boom. </em>
</p><p>Everyone could feel the vibrations, coming up through the ground, through the car, into their bodies.</p><p>Jack’s stomach sank.</p><p>He tried to tell himself he had no reason to be afraid. The fence was right there, it had always held before. The T-rex coming over was what they’d wanted, after all.</p><p>But something in his bones told him that something was very, very wrong.</p><p>Then, it hit.</p><p>
  <em> The cars aren’t working. The radios aren’t working. If more than one park system is down... what if the fences are down too? </em>
</p><p>By now, the <em> booms </em> were shaking the cars violently. It was completely dark, and the rain was streaming down the windows, drumming on the roof.</p><p>“Should we get the kids and go?” asked Diane in a high, strained tone. “Try to make it back?”</p><p>“No,” Jack whispered. “Hopefully the fences hold. If they don’t... T-rex hunts based on movement and smell. If we stay in the cars, it should have no reason to go after us. It won’t recognize those as food. If we’re on the move, though...” He looked at Diane. “You could outrun a full-grown T-rex. But this is a juvenile. Which means it’s fast and wants to eat things our size.”</p><p>Diane nodded, eyes wide.</p><p>Jack took the night-vision goggles out from under the seat and carefully looked out.</p><p>There it was.</p><p>The T-rex stood with one foot <em> on </em> the fence, the goat that had been by the fence dangling from its mouth. As Jack watched, the creature tossed its head back and swallowed the goat nearly whole, one leg falling from its mouth and landing on the other car.</p><p>
  <em> The kids. </em>
</p><p>No sooner had Jack had that thought than the door to the other car opened. Jack was expecting to see one of the kids panicking.</p><p>Instead, he saw Mark fucking Simmons bolting for the concrete outhouse about thirty yards away.</p><p>
  <em> He didn’t just abandon the kids, he put them in more danger. The door’s open now. Which means the rex can smell them. </em>
</p><p>The rex, meanwhile, was chewing its way through the fence and climbing out into the middle of the road.</p><p>It swung its head from side to side, looking back and forth between the vehicles.</p><p>Slowly, it made its way over to the vehicle where Jack and the adults were.</p><p>“Keep absolutely still,” whispered Jack, moving his mouth as little as possible. “Its vision is based on movement.”</p><p>The T-rex leaned down, staring in the window of the car.</p><p>No one so much as breathed.</p><p>The T-rex bumped the car with its nose.</p><p>The car rocked slightly, and someone whimpered.</p><p>Just then, the door to the other car slammed shut.</p><p>The T-rex raised its head, turned, and strode towards the other car—the one containing the kids.</p><p>The T-rex raised its head and <em> smashed </em> down through the Plexiglass sunroof of the other car.</p><p>The kids screamed.</p><p>“There’s gotta be something we can do,” muttered Harry. He thought for a second. “You said its vision’s based on movement. There a flashlight in here?”</p><p>Jack held up the flare he already had grasped in his hand. “Hopefully we won’t have to—”</p><p>Jack jumped out of the car and lit the flare. “Hey!”</p><p>The T-rex looked up from the car, which it had by this point flipped and partially flattened. Jack couldn’t see the kids; he was blinded by the flare. He hoped they hadn’t been crushed.</p><p>Jack slowly waved the flare back and forth, until the T-rex was fixated on it.</p><p>Once he had the rex’s full attention, he flung the flare over the fence, towards the cliff.</p><p>The T-rex started to lunge after it...</p><p>...When another bright light appeared behind him.</p><p>Harry, into the spirit of the thing but not entirely clear on the plan, had stepped out of the car with his own flare.</p><p>“Get rid of that!” Jack shouted.</p><p>“Get the kids!” Harry shouted back, starting to run for the outhouse.</p><p>Jack didn’t hesitate.</p><p>He ran to the car with the kids, passing uncomfortably close to the T-rex running in the opposite direction. But its attention was on Harry and his flare.</p><p>When he reached the kids, Jack heard a shattering sound coming from the outhouse, followed by a piercing scream that abruptly cut off.</p><p>
  <em> Kids. Focus on the kids. </em>
</p><p>Bozer was closest. Jack grabbed him under the arms and pulled him out from under the car.</p><p>Just then, he heard a Jeep drive up.</p><p>The Jeep paused next to them, and Sam hopped out. “I’ll take you all back to base. C’mon.”</p><p>“Oh, thank you God,” Jack whispered.</p><p>“Name’s Sam,” said Sam with a faint smirk, lifting an obviously terrified Bozer into the Jeep. “Get the others—”</p><p>“Sam, get out of here,” said Jack.</p><p>The T-rex had apparently gotten bored with the outhouse and was turning around.</p><p>Sam nodded. “Can you...”</p><p>“I can try. Get anyone you can.”</p><p>Sam was already driving off.</p><p>As Jack watched, she slowed down just long enough for the adults (who, fortunately, seemed to be with the program this time) to get into her Jeep and drove off, the T-rex in hot pursuit.</p><p>Jack turned back to the two scared kids still trapped under the car.</p><p>And swore.</p><p>Even as one set of <em> booms </em> was fading away into the distance, another was getting <em> louder. </em></p><p>Back in the Cretaceous, T-rexes lived in family groups.</p><p>As such, there were two T-rexes in Jurassic Park. A pair of sisters.</p><p>And, <em> of course, </em> just as one was leaving... the <em> other </em> had to show up.</p><p>“C’mon, Riley,” said Jack, helping the next readily accessible kid out from under the car. Mac, it seemed, was still stuck inside...</p><p>...And they’d have to worry about that later, because the second T-rex had just arrived.</p><p>Jack put a hand over Riley’s mouth. “Keep still,” he whispered.</p><p>The T-rex leaned down and sniffed them. The scent of rotting flesh from past meals rolled from its mouth.</p><p>For a moment, time hung suspended.</p><p>Finally, the rex drew back and shoved the car with its nose, causing it to pivot in the slippery mud.</p><p>Jack and Riley crawled frantically, trying to stay ahead of it, but it was pushing them closer to the cliff and—</p><p>“Hang onto me!” said Jack. He had an idea. An insane idea, but everything about this situation was insane, so maybe it would work.</p><p>Riley wrapped her arms around his neck, and Jack climbed over the wall and hung onto a fence cable. The cables were wet from the rain, and his hands were slippery with mud, and Riley’s arms were choking him and her body weight was pulling him down and it was all he could do to hold on.</p><p>But hold on he did.</p><p>The T-rex roared, then sent the car flying.</p><p>“MAC!” Riley shouted.</p><p>Jack swallowed. He hoped Mac was alive. But right now, Riley was his responsibility.</p><p>He had to get her—and himself—down this cliff safely.</p><p>A long while and many terrifying slips and near misses later, they arrived at the bottom.</p><p>Jack looked at Riley, shaking and whispering something to herself, then up at the car, which had gotten stuck in a tree.</p><p>There was a good chance Mac was alive, then. Jack just had to keep him that way.</p><p>And keep both these kids that way, until he could get them back to safety, in a park full of <em> dinosaurs </em> that was apparently going completely FUBAR.</p><p>Yeah. This was gonna be <em>interesting.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everybody! This chapter contains more blood/gore/injury-type stuff, more animal death (a dinosaur, if that matters to you), and mentions (in considerably more detail than before, although it's still fairly brief) of domestic and child abuse. It also contains the scene I started writing this entire AU for, so I'm hyped! Happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Visitor Center</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty sighed as she hung up the phone. “I can’t reach anyone on the mainland,” she told James. “The storm’s interfering with the signal.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keep trying,” he said. “Have you been able to get radio contact with anyone on the tour?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Matty said. “Radio signal is down all over the park. I’m fairly certain it’s the storm again. Which </span>
  <em>
    <span>might</span>
  </em>
  <span> be why we lost cameras, but...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She left the corollary unspoken. </span>
  <em>
    <span>More likely, we have a saboteur on our hands.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just then, Patricia walked in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James sighed. “Tell me you have some good news.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Zito is missing. And he crashed the park’s systems before he left.” She took a breath. “Including most of the fences. The tyrannosaur fence is one of the deactivated ones.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them. “Well? Can Jill fix it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not without looking through every line of code to find where he made the change, and there are around two million of them. Jill’s trying to find a workaround, but...” She said it in a tone that announced loud and clear that she knew exactly the blow she was delivering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The door slammed, and everyone looked up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A soaking-wet Samantha Cage burst in, accompanied by an equally soaked and terrified-looking group consisting of a boy and two women, one of whom looked to be the boy’s mother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James frowned. “Where are the others? Cage, report.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Still out there,” said Sam. “Request permission to go back out and search for them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Granted,” said James. “What’s the status of the tyrannosaurs?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Escaped,” said Sam grimly. “One of them was attacking when I arrived. Status of the other unknown. The one I saw followed my vehicle, and we managed to shoot her with a tranq gun. She’s still out, as far as I know. But she won’t be that way for long.” Sam looked James in the eye. “I believe our best option is to kill her, to minimize the threats we’re facing. If I—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill</span>
  </em>
  <span> her?” James looked dumbstruck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sir, if I don’t, she’s likely to eat you, your son, or your father, assuming the other hasn’t already. This is war now. We have to strike, and we have to do it fast.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James put a hand to his forehead. “Go. Do it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam didn’t waste an instant, turning and running out the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty turned to the assembled guests. “I’m Matilda Webber,” she said gently. “You can call me Matty, if you like.” She smiled sadly at the irony of her next words. “I’m the park’s PR manager.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hate to break it to you, Matty,” said the boy in a tone verging on hysterical, “but I think you’re out of a job.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty nodded. “I know. Follow me, I can get you some dry clothes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>On The Road Again</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam drove as fast as she could out to the place where the rex had fallen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>People thought tranq darts took effect instantly. They didn’t. It had been a heart-stopping minute between shooting the rex and seeing her fall. A minute during which they were still being chased.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, though, the rex had started swaying, then fallen over with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>thud.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And now, she was lying in the road.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam knew she had to act fast. The tranq would be wearing off soon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If it hadn’t already.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Moving quickly but quietly, Sam crept around to the T-rex’s neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she pulled out her knife, the rex’s eyes snapped open.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam didn’t hesitate. She jammed her knife through the scales of the rex’s neck, using all the power she had, straight into the largest artery.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The resulting spray of hot blood drenched her as the rex roared. Sam booked it back to her Jeep and got in, driving away as fast as she could while wiping blood off her night-vision goggles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, she reached the spot where she’d met up with the others, just outside the tyrannosaur paddock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The outhouse was destroyed. She was about to turn away from it when she heard a soft call.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She made her way into the center, stepping over pieces of what she was fairly certain had once been Mark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once she got there, she found Harry, covered in rubble, with an obvious compound fracture in his lower leg.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d turned his belt into a tourniquet, and seemed to be lucid, if in a great deal of pain. But Sam could tell he wouldn’t be that way for long if she didn’t get him medical help, immediately.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Harry, can you hear me?” Sam asked. “Is it okay if I help you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harry nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to have to move you,” said Sam. “It’s going to hurt, and it’s risky since I don’t know if you have a spinal injury. But it’s definitely not safe to leave you here. Do you feel any tingling or numbness anywhere?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wish,” Harry muttered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam smiled. “All right.” Then, something hit her. “I’ll be right back. I have to check something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam made her way to the edge of the cliff, where she’d last seen Jack and the other children.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The car was gone. It must have been thrown over the edge.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But if anyone could survive that...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adjusting her night vision goggles, Sam stared into the darkness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had to hope.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Earlier</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Inside The Tyrannosaur Paddock</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Not Where Riley Was Hoping To Be Right Now</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley had thought she knew fear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Curling up in the closet, listening to the sound of punches and thrown things and her mother crying out, waiting for the noises to stop so she could sneak out and go to bed, praying Elwood wouldn’t find her and punish her for hiding, praying her mom wouldn’t get hurt too bad this time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was terrifying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But this? The imminent threat of being </span>
  <em>
    <span>eaten alive, </span>
  </em>
  <span>by a creature that could bite through her bones and crush her body with one bite?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was terror of an entirely different kind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Right now, Riley was sitting curled in a culvert at the bottom of the cliff, watching Jack wash blood off his face and shaking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Jack was done washing his face with water from a puddle, he turned to Riley. “You okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley couldn’t answer. She tried to nod, but it came out as more of a twitch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack gently put a hand on her shoulder. Riley flinched at first, but the contact was grounding, and eventually she decided it was okay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” said Jack. “We’re gonna be okay. I’m gonna keep you safe, all right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley would’ve rolled her eyes at that, if she’d been able to muster the energy for sarcasm. Grown-ups never did what they said they were going to do. They said what you wanted to hear and then did something else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Riley couldn’t explain that right now, and didn’t want to say it to a grown-up anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, she whispered, “the other guy left us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack crouched down to her level, squeezed her shoulder, and looked her in the eye.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he spoke, his voice was confident, almost fierce. “But that’s not what I’m gonna do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And, for some reason, Riley almost believed him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” said Jack, straightening up and taking his hand off her shoulder. “I’m gonna go get Mac, but I </span>
  <em>
    <span>promise,</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’ll be back for you in just a minute. You stay there, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley nodded, still not trusting herself to speak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As Jack walked away, Riley silently hoped he would be able to keep his promise.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you're curious (and haven't figured it out by now), the scene I started writing this for was Jack saying "but that's not what I'm gonna do" to Riley. I just... needed that in my life. Because screw canon. Also, I would like to thank dailyscript.com for giving me access to the transcript I'm using in my writing of this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, everybody! This chapter contains continued reference to injuries and someone throwing up. Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Command Center</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well?” asked Patricia. “Are you any closer to getting our systems back online?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jill sighed. “I’m trying to write a program that’ll search the code for me, but...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay. I’m looking for a needle in a haystack, right? But, if I was looking for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>needle</span>
  </em>
  <span> in a haystack, it would be easy, because I know the properties of needles. I could use a magnet, or a metal detector. What Zito did... I don’t know exactly what he </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> to shut down the park’s systems, there’s a lot of ways he could’ve done it. So, basically, I’m looking for </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> in a haystack, but I don’t know what.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Patricia nodded. “I’ll tell the Director you need more time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Patricia arrived back in the main visitor center to find Cage, covered in blood, next to Harry, who was lying on a table, leg obviously broken. It was clear he’d lost a lot of blood, and he seemed semiconscious. Cage was busy splinting his leg, which had a bloody dressing on it already.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What did I miss?” asked Patricia.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mark is dead,” said Cage. Patricia’s heart sank. She’d been hoping against hope not to lose anyone in this mess. As Assistant Director of Operations, she made it her business to get to know all the park employees on some level. She wondered, a bit absurdly, what would happen to Mark’s cat when everyone evacuated. “But I saw three sets of footprints leading away through the tyrannosaur enclosure. I believe Jack and both children still out there survived.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mac’s alive?” whispered Harry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cage turned to look at him. “As far as I know, yes,” she said. “And I know Jack is doing everything he can to keep him that way.” She turned to address Diane, sitting at one of the tables, as well. “If there’s anyone I’d trust to get your children back safely, it would be Jack.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re certain Mark is dead?” asked Patricia.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” said Cage. “But so is one of the tyrannosaurs.” She gestured to herself. “This isn’t all human.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Patricia nodded. “When you’re done with that,” she said, gesturing to the splint, “go take a shower. The rest of us can take care of him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cage nodded gratefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What does Jill say about when the park systems will be operational again?” asked James.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She needs more time,” said Patricia. “The task is incredibly complex—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell her to hurry up!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sir, do you really want me to go back down to the command center just to tell her something she already knows?” Patricia said, with steel in her voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James sighed. “Does she at least have a time estimate?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not at the moment.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James clenched his teeth. “Can you go ask Matty if she’s gotten through to anyone yet?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Patricia nodded and walked away, towards the area of the building that currently had the best reception, where Matty was making her phone calls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“—aware that you’re in a difficult situation, but we have </span>
  <em>
    <span>children</span>
  </em>
  <span> on this island who will be </span>
  <em>
    <span>eaten by dinosaurs </span>
  </em>
  <span>if you don’t get us evac!” A pause. “I don’t blame them. But the ferry staff need to put on their big boy pants and come help us!” Another. “Yes, I understand that, but—” Matty pulled the phone away from her ear in frustration, then looked at Patricia. “He hung up on me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s the verdict?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The mainland got hit hard by the storm as well. They’re telling me they can’t spare the resources to send a ferry to get us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you call someone else?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I will. But not yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty must have seen Patricia’s confused expression. “The kids and Jack are still out in the park somewhere. Besides, we still have some night-shift employees who didn’t leave on the ferry this afternoon. We need time to gather everyone before evac actually arrives.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Patricia smiled faintly. “So you’re starting now. Wear them down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty smiled back, then sighed. “It’s gonna be a long night.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Inside The Tyrannosaur Paddock</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Literally Up A Tree</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, when Mac woke up, he wasn’t sure where he was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or why he was feeling so dizzy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The memory hit around the same time as the wave of nausea and the realization, upon looking around, that he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>in a tree.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac retched, feeling the contents of his stomach spill out onto the floor of the car. Tears squeezed out of his eyes, and he pretended they were just from the mechanical action of throwing up. Nothing else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Okay. Calm. Stay calm. Panicking won’t help anything.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But </span>
  <em>
    <span>damn</span>
  </em>
  <span> did he feel like panicking right now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Mac tried to take deep breaths, in and out. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Grandpa says panic is dangerous because you forget to think. So think. What can you do to get out of here?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac took stock of his surroundings. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yep, still in a tree</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But now he was stuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Should he get out of the car and climb down? Or was it safer to stay here, where the T-rex—and anything else that was out there—couldn’t get to him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, if he stayed here, no humans would find him either, and when they left the island they’d just </span>
  <em>
    <span>leave </span>
  </em>
  <span>him...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac almost sobbed at that thought. But he kept quiet, partially out of fear, and partially because he could hear someone coming up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jack?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon enough, Jack came into view.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mac?” he called softly. “Hey, kiddo, you in here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Here,” Mac managed to squeak out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack looked relieved. “C’mere. Let’s get you outta here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack held out his hand, and Mac reached for him, but there was still a gap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack climbed further in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac saw what was going to happen the instant before it did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No no no no no!” he said, as Jack put his hand on the steering wheel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The wheel turned, and Mac felt the car shift.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” said Jack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We gotta get out of here,” said Mac. “I’m pretty sure you just destabilized the—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tree groaned as the car shifted more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, yeah, let’s go,” said Jack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They started climbing down, Jack guiding Mac. “The first rule of climbing,” he said. “Is that you never, </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> look down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac glared. “Yeah, I know!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tree creaked above them, and the car fell down a few branches with a loud crash, shaking the branches they clung to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, let’s go, let’s go!” said Jack, grabbing Mac and scrambling down the tree with him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac shut his eyes as they practically fell down the tree, slamming into branches and finally the ground. Jack flung himself on top of Mac, and Mac squeezed his eyes shut, waiting to be crushed by the falling car...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A loud </span>
  <em>
    <span>bang,</span>
  </em>
  <span> then silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly, Mac opened his eyes to the dark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The car was </span>
  <em>
    <span>around</span>
  </em>
  <span> them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The hole in the roof had neatly surrounded him and Jack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you climb out the window?” Jack said after a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Mac managed to get out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, they stood on the muddy ground, looking back toward the culvert where Riley sat curled, staring ahead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As they got closer, Riley looked up at them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you were dead,” she whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Take more’n a tree to kill Jack Dalton,” Jack said with a faint smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Technically, it was the car that almost killed us,” said Mac in a shaky voice. “Why did you grab the steering wheel?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How was I supposed to know you knew so much about the physics of cars in trees?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s just called physics,” Mac replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack didn’t answer. Instead, he bent down and scooped up a handful of mud, then smeared it on himself. “I know we’re all muddy already,” he said, “but this’ll help hide our scent.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley stared, then slowly climbed out of the culvert and started smearing mud on herself as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac didn’t want to. He hated the feel of it, the gritty sliminess. But he knew he had to, and complaining wouldn’t help anything, and it was definitely better than being eaten, so he silently bent down and grabbed a handful of mud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Make sure you get lots of it under your arms and at your crotch,” said Jack. “That’s where you’re smelliest.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley gave Jack a dubious look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once they were all extremely muddy and Mac felt like crawling out of his skin every time he moved, Jack turned to look Mac and Riley in the eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” he said. “We’re gonna get back to the visitor center, but it’s gonna be a ways, so we gotta get going, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac felt fear coil in his stomach, but said nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, he nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley nodded as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Together, they set off through the park.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hello again! Chapter 8 is written and will be up once I write chapter 9, as usual. Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everybody! This chapter contains mentions of betrayal, the offscreen deaths of people we don't know, and James MacGyver talking a lot (sorry). It also contains Thornton and Matty being badasses, though, so hopefully that makes up for it :)</p>
<p>Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Visitor Center</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bozer sat wrapped in the blanket Matty had found for him, wearing Jurassic Park merchandise (which felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong,</span>
  </em>
  <span> under the circumstances), and leaned on his mom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac was out there in the park, with the dinosaurs, Sam had said there was </span>
  <em>
    <span>more than one</span>
  </em>
  <span> T-rex so it didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>matter</span>
  </em>
  <span> if one of them was dead, there was still one out there and there were </span>
  <em>
    <span>raptors</span>
  </em>
  <span> and his best friend, who he’d only just gotten to meet face-to-face, was out there being </span>
  <em>
    <span>hunted,</span>
  </em>
  <span> maybe already...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam walked up, hair damp, wearing a clean ranger uniform. “Hey,” she said, sitting down next to Bozer, and looking alternately at him and past him to Riley’s mom. “Jack knows what to do if something goes wrong. He’ll be heading back here with Mac and Riley as we speak. They might need to stop for the night, hole up somewhere safe, but tomorrow morning if not earlier, you can bet they’ll be back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you have children?” asked Riley’s mom, voice shaking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” said Sam quietly, “and I know I can’t even begin to understand how terrifying this is. But it’s not hopeless.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mac’s clever,” said Bozer. “H-he’ll be alright.” He tried to believe it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s right,” said Sam, turning to him. “He will.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bozer shut his eyes and silently prayed that Mac was okay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that he would stay that way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>The Middle Of Jurassic Park</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Yes, Jack Knows Where He’s Going</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” whispered Riley. “I mean, I know you’re a park ranger, but you don’t normally go </span>
  <em>
    <span>inside </span>
  </em>
  <span>the exhibits, do you? And we’ve been walking a while.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m sure,” Jack whispered back. “I’ve been inside the tyrannosaur paddock plenty of times, while they were out, and I know the layout of the others. This is the fastest way back to the visitor center.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>We really couldn’t’ve broken down in a more inconvenient spot.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack heard a roar in the distance. He forced himself not to react, but he could tell the kids heard it too. They were disturbingly alert, these kids. Maybe it was just the adrenaline.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was that?” asked Mac in a small voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing,” said Jack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t lie,” said Mac. “Is it coming back?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another roar sounded, a little closer this time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It might be a good idea for us to find a safe place to sleep tonight,” Jack said after a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac and Riley both nodded, eyes wide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon, they came to a stand of tall and, more importantly, climbable trees.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, everybody up,” said Jack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riley started to climb without hesitation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac swallowed, staring at the tree.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” said Jack. “C’mon, I’ll boost you up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They heard another roar, this one uncomfortably close, and Mac started scrambling up the tree, seemingly not giving himself a chance to think about it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack followed, giving the kids a boost when they needed it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, they came to a spot that was high enough to be out of reach of any of the park’s carnivores, and had a comfortable-looking web of branches where they could all sit together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mac curled up against Jack fairly quickly. Riley took a little longer, clearly not liking it, but eventually exhaustion won and she leaned into him, starting to drift off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, Mac blinked back awake. “What if one of the dinosaurs comes back during the night?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, we’re high enough up that nothing can get us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither kid looked particularly reassured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack sighed. “I’ll just stay awake.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All night?” asked Riley.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All night,” said Jack. He knew he needed to be sharp the next day, but he also knew he could function on a sleep deficit better than most people, and it would be worth a slight loss of his acuity if it meant the kids felt safe enough to get some sleep themselves.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon enough, Mac and Riley had both drifted off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Control Room</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think I might’ve made some progress,” said Jill.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well?” asked Lead Director MacGyver.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I still can’t identify the problem spot in the code, but I know what caused it.” She paused for effect. “Someone put a flashdrive in the computer fifteen minutes before the systems crashed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> fifteen minutes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So we know how the bad code was delivered,” said the Lead Director. “Why is that relevant?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think it’ll help us much with the </span>
  <em>
    <span>how,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> said Jill. “But it might help with the </span>
  <em>
    <span>why.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Lead Director frowned. Something in his expression seemed... unhappier than she’d expected. “How does that help us get the systems back online?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If I know who did this, it might help me narrow down what I’m looking for.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton’s frown joined the Lead Director’s. “But we already know Zito did this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, that’s the interesting part. From his file, Zito is an accomplished information technology expert, with a profile that would make him an excellent hacker if he wanted to be. But a flashdrive suggests someone with no idea what they were doing, sent in by someone else.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Lead Director was downright </span>
  <em>
    <span>scowling</span>
  </em>
  <span> at her now, and Jill winced. “I’m sorry, sir, I just...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If this isn’t going to help us get park systems operational, I don’t want to hear about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton stepped slightly in front of him, placing her body between him and Jill. “I for one want to hear what she has to say. If Jill says identifying who’s really behind this will help her get our systems back online, I highly suggest we let her talk.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James sighed, then nodded. “Proceed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jill continued speaking, somewhat cautiously. “The fact that the hack was carried out with code carried in from outside, probably written by someone other than the person who delivered it, says one of two things to me: Milton Zito is either a cover identity or a stolen identity. And given that he passed our background check process... my money’s on the second one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re saying the Zito we hired wasn’t actually Zito.” Director Thornton looked both intrigued and disturbed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That, or...” Jill felt a bit like she was living in a spy movie, saying her next sentence. “We hired the actual Zito, and someone else killed or incapacitated him and took his place.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is wild speculation,” said the Lead Director, shaking his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton tilted her head, looking at the Lead Director curiously. “You don’t believe that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re verging on insubordination,” the Lead Director whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jill felt like a mouse watching two cats about to fight each other. Every instinct she had told her to run before they took notice of her again. But she stayed. She had a job to do. And Director Thornton at least wouldn’t hurt her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yesterday, she’d’ve said the same thing about the Lead Director. But something about this whole thing felt... </span>
  <em>
    <span>off</span>
  </em>
  <span> to Jill.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she suspected she was about to find out why.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m out of a job anyway,” Director Thornton hissed back. “I might as well do what I can to keep everyone in this park alive. Including you, </span>
  <em>
    <span>sir.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> The last word had a biting quality to it that Jill had never heard anyone use toward the Lead Director before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, a lot of things were happening tonight that had never happened before. She might as well accept it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton continued to glare at the Lead Director. “You know something you’re not telling. And there are </span>
  <em>
    <span>children</span>
  </em>
  <span> out there. So start talking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Lead Director shut his eyes and sighed. “I know who did this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That statement hung in the air for a moment, and Jill felt sick.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, not who did this, exactly. But who probably paid him to do it.” The Lead Director sighed again. “It’s a long story.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton tipped her head and raised her eyebrows in a </span>
  <em>
    <span>well-go-on-then</span>
  </em>
  <span> gesture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Lead Director took a deep breath. “His name is Jonah Walsh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The room waited for him to continue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a few seconds, he did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I met Jonah during our freshman year of college. We quickly discovered that we had a lot in common, and we became friends. We complemented each other’s skill sets well, and... one day, we were talking, and it hit me. The idea of using mosquitoes trapped in fossilized amber to get dinosaur DNA and bring them back to Earth, after all this time. I knew Jonah wouldn’t think I was crazy, or laugh at me—and he didn’t. We started planning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is this going somewhere?” asked Director Thornton.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but the context is important!” said the Lead Director. “Anyway. Jonah’s family had money. A lot of money. And his parents had died in a car accident when he was sixteen, so he’d inherited all of it. Which meant our dream wasn’t as far out of reach as it could’ve been. Our junior year, he introduced me to my eventual wife Ellen, and after that she was part of our group as well. The three of us were inseparable. And, eventually, we secured an island, bought it with Jonah’s money, hired a crew to dig for amber and a team of geneticists, and started our work.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton looked at him. “So why was everyone in management here only hired two years ago?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because of Mac,” said the Lead Director. “We were almost there. We had viable embryos, they were incubating, we had the enclosures built and the legalese worked out—when a wrench got thrown in the works. Ellen got pregnant, and she got cold feet. She didn’t want to raise the baby isolated from the world, she said. And the park wouldn’t be getting visitors until the dinosaurs had attained a respectable size. She asked me to leave with her. So I did, and I left Jonah in charge of the park. I told him I’d be back when the child was old enough. I assumed I’d have him with me. But... Six years later, Ellen died. And I... I couldn’t bear it. I tried. But when I realized the park was almost ready to be unveiled—I saw a chance to clear my head, to get away from the memories. I was always planning to bring Angus to me once I was better, but... I thought it best not to tell him that. Just in case... but that doesn’t matter.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jill’s forehead wrinkled. </span>
  <em>
    <span>One of the kids is </span>
  </em>
  <span>his?</span>
  <em>
    <span> And he probably set up this whole contest just to bring him here...</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the Lead Director continued speaking. “When I arrived, Jonah had gotten greedy. He wanted full credit for the park, even though it had originally been my idea. He didn’t even want to let me run the place with him anymore. So I... encouraged him to leave.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And how did you manage that?” asked Director Thornton.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not the point.” The Lead Director looked flustered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All right,” said Director Thornton. “Did you ‘encourage him to leave’ in a fashion that might make him want revenge?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Lead Director looked away. “Quite possibly yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Director Thornton glared at him. “I’ll deal with you later,” she said. She turned to Jill. “Good work. Keep it up. See if you can trace hackers Walsh would’ve used, look for their signatures.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, ma’am.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Matty finally tracked down James, he was sitting in the park’s restaurant, eating ice cream.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was all melting,” he said when she walked in. “Let me guess, they sent you to look for me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Something like that,” Matty replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James sighed. “I made some mistakes. I should’ve vetted the new hires more carefully, for certain. Been less dependent on automation. But all that’s correctable for next time—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There won’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>be</span>
  </em>
  <span> a next time,” said Matty. “You’re in a lot of trouble, Jim.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sure there’s no trouble in the world you can’t fix. As long as I’ve got you, it’ll be all right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty’s next words were quieter than her usual, deliberately so. It made them sting more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe she was being cruel. But this man, her </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend,</span>
  </em>
  <span> had been lying to her for two years. And, by his actions, he’d endangered who knew how many lives.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If she hurt him, she didn’t have much sympathy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What makes you so sure you’ve still got me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James blinked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This isn’t college anymore. This isn’t some game you’re playing, some daydream to make you feel in charge. This is real. These are real human lives you’re risking. These are real people who have </span>
  <em>
    <span>died</span>
  </em>
  <span> because of you and your delusions of grandeur—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not a delusion!” James snapped. “I never pretended to anything I couldn’t do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes you did,” Matty replied. “You unleashed this power and then pretended you could control it. And I made a mistake, too. I got caught up in the power of this place, and I forgot to respect that power. And it’s out now. And you’re still trying to pick up the pieces, but there’s nothing worth picking up. And people have already died because of it.” Matty stared directly into James’s eyes. “The only thing that matters now are the people we can still save.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James stared back. “I invited you to work here because I thought you’d have my back,” he said. “We were </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Matilda.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We </span>
  <em>
    <span>were</span>
  </em>
  <span> friends,” Matty replied. “And unless you get off your ass and help the rest of us save everyone on this island, that ends here and now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was ending anyway. But James didn’t need to know that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Matty turned and walked away, and didn’t look back.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hello again! I am posting this chapter, even though the next is not complete, to (belatedly) announce that I am once again tabling this project to work on other things. I will come back to it again, just probably not particularly soon. Thank you for understanding. Best!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello again! Hope you liked this! If you did, I'd love it if you could let me know below!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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